Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro: Frequently Asked Questions

Creating new listings in bulk

Why create new listings in bulk?

Creating new listings in bulk is a great way to create lots of listings at once that have similar settings when you don't have an existing listing to copy. You can quickly enter the information that's the same across all the listings and then for each draft, enter the information that's unique.

How do I create new listings in bulk?

Go to Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro, and then go to your Drafts, Active, Sold, or Unsold view.

Click Create listing and then select Multiple listings.

In the Start new listings page, tell us the number of new listings you want to create in bulk.

Enter the information that's the same for the listings you'll create. For example, enter the category, listing format, duration, shipping, and payment information.

Click Continue.

For each listing, enter the values that are unique for that listing in the Quick edit pane.

Scroll down the table, one listing at a time, to edit the price, quantity, and other fields.

When you're done entering the information for all the listings, click Submit all.

Using custom description templates

What's a custom description template?

A custom description template is a saved block of text that you insert from the Quick edit pane into your item description when you work on listings in bulk. It saves you time from retyping text that you use repeatedly in your item descriptions.

For example, if the description in all your listings contains the same sections—such as Warranty details, Sizing information, or other item specifics information—you can format and save these sections to a custom template and then insert the template into each of your listings as you create and edit them using the Quick edit pane of the bulk listing tool.

How do I create and manage custom templates?

In the Quick edit pane of the bulk listing tool, go to the Item description section, click the Insert custom template drop-down menu, and select Create a template.

Enter the name of the template and the text you want to save.

Click Create.

If want to delete or edit a template, go to the Item description section of the Quick edit pane, click the Insert custom template drop-down menu, and select Manage templates.

In the Select drop-down menu select the template you want to delete or edit, and then do one of the following:

To edit the template, update the template name or text.

To delete the template, click the Delete link.

Click Save.

Note: You can save up to 10 custom templates.

How do I use custom templates?

In the Quick edit pane of the bulk listing tool, go to the Item description section.

Enter your item description and position your cursor in the area of the description where you want to insert the template text.

Click the Insert custom template drop-down menu, and select the name of the template you want to insert into the description.

Creating listings from drafts

What are draft listings?

Draft listings allow you to work with multiple listings in phases. For example, you can create multiple drafts with just titles and descriptions, and then save the drafts for someone else to add photos. The drafts appear in the new Draft listings view, where you can save thousands of drafts and revisit them later when it's most convenient for you, or someone else, to continue working on them. You can also select multiple drafts in the Draft listings view and finish them quickly in bulk.

How do I create a draft?

Start a listing using the quick listing tool, the advanced listing tool, or the eBay Mobile App and then save the listing as a draft. You can also create drafts in the bulk listing tool when you use Relist or Sell similar and then save your drafts by clicking the new Save and continue later button in the bulk listing tool. The drafts appear in the new Draft listings view.

How do I finish a draft and publish it as a listing?

To finish drafts, go to the Draft listings view in Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro and do one of the following:

In the Action column of a single draft, click the Complete link to finish that one draft.

Select one or more listings and click the Complete button. Then finish the drafts and publish them in the bulk listing tool. As soon as you publish a draft, it's removed from the Draft listings view.

How long can I keep a saved draft?

A saved draft will stay in the Draft listings view for up to 30 days, so if you plan to use it to create one or more listings, make sure you publish it within 30 days of when you create it.

How do I select drafts when my Draft listings view has multiple pages?

Select drafts across multiple pages of the Draft listings view without losing your selections from one page to the next. For example, if you select 3 listings on the first page of the Draft listings view, and then go to the next page to select several more listings, you won't lose your selections from the previous page. To help you keep track of how many drafts you've selected as you go from one page to the next, we show you a counter of selected drafts at the top of each page.

How do I keep my Draft listings view organized?

Consider deleting drafts you know you won't use. Trimming down your Draft listings view from time to time will help you to work more efficiently!

Copying listings

Why create a copy of a listing?

If you sell a lot of similar items—using listings that have the same category and the same shipping, return, and payment policies–you can list more efficiently by creating similar listings from a single copy.

For example, if you sell jewelry and you recently received a shipment of 20 different styles of necklaces, you can quickly list the new necklaces using one of your existing listings. Simply select an active listing of a necklace that's similar to the ones you'd like to list and click the Sell Similar button within My eBay, Selling Manager, or Selling Manager Pro. This opens the bulk listing tool, with the copy of the listing you just selected. Since you want to list 20 new necklaces, create 19 copies of the listing, in addition to the copy you just created. Then edit the copies by changing details such as title, price, photos, description, and item specifics to match the items you want to list. You'll save time and effort by creating from copies instead of from scratch.

How do I create a copy of a listing?

Go to My eBay, Selling Manager, or Selling Manager Pro, and then go to your Active, Sold, or Unsold view.

Select the listings you want to copy, and then click the Sell Similar button. This opens the bulk listing tool, with draft copies of the listings you just selected.

Select the copy you just created, click the Create a copy button, and then enter the number of additional copies you want to create. For example, if you want to create a total of 20 copies, select the copy you just created, click the Create a copy button, and then enter 19 to indicate that you want to create 19 copies in addition to the one you just created.

Note: If the original listing that you copied is using information from the eBay catalog, consider copying the catalog information. Do this only if the item you're listing is the same product as the original. Most likely, because you're selling something that's similar, but not exactly the same, you can leave the Copy catalog product information checkbox cleared. If appropriate, you can also copy photos from the original listing.

Edit the copies you've created to change the values that are different. You can edit in a variety of ways:

Edit fields directly in the table.

Edit in bulk: Select the copies you want to edit, click the Edit drop-down menu, select the field you want to edit, and then select whether you want to edit the field in bulk for all the listings you selected or for one listing at a time. Then make your changes and click Save.

Using the Quick edit pane, edit fields. To show or hide the Quick edit pane, click the appropriate icon next to Customize columns.

Note: The fields that appear in the Quick edit pane are always associated with the highlighted row in the table. Select a different row to view and edit the fields for that listing in the Quick edit pane.

Click the Submit button

Editing multiple listings

What is the Quick edit pane in the bulk listing tool?

Quick edit lets you very quickly and efficiently update fields in the bulk listing tool. You can scroll down one listing at a time in the table and in the Quick edit pane quickly change fields for that listing, and then move on to the next listing by scrolling to the next row in the table. When creating copies using Sell similar, this is an efficient way to quickly change the values that are most likely to be different in each copy.

To show or hide the Quick edit pane, click the appropriate icon next to Customize columns.
For some fields, such as Title and Price, you can edit directly in the field. Other fields, such as Item Specifics, you can click the field's Edit link. To navigate across the fields in the table, use the horizontal scrollbar.

Note: The fields that appear in the Quick edit pane are always associated with the highlighted row in the table. Select a different row to view and edit the fields for that listing in the Quick edit pane.

Edit fields directly in the table in the bulk listing tool. For some fields, such as Title and Price, you can edit directly in the field. For other fields, such as Item Specifics, you can click the field's Edit link. To navigate across the fields in the table, use the horizontal scrollbar.

Edit in bulk: Select the copies you want to edit, click the Edit drop-down menu, select the field you want to edit, and then select whether you want to edit the field in bulk for all the listings you selected or for one listing at a time. Then make your changes and click Save.

How do I customize the table in the bulk listing tool?

You can customize the table in the bulk listing tool in the following ways:

Customize the columns in the table: Click the Customize columns link. Then add, remove, or rearrange columns. You can also change the default sort order of the rows within the columns.

Change the table layout: Click the icons next to the Customize columns link to display the table in full view, in a maximized version of the Quick edit pane, or with the standard Quick edit pane.

Exporting your listings to a file

How do I save my listings to a file?

If you need an offline catalog of what you're selling, or a quick checklist of your inventory, follow these steps to export your listings to a spreadsheet or PDF.